London, Sept. 5: Senator Barack Obama's team has built a reputation for discipline over the past 20 months, but Republican rival John McCain’s maverick selection of 44-year-old Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, has reportedly created an atmosphere of uncertainty about what lies ahead in the run-up to the November 4 presidential poll.

The Palin phenomena, a prominent Democrat said on Thursday, would make the presidential race closer.

Washington, Sept. 4 : Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has accused Republicans of trying to distract voters from economic issues.

Addressing a gathering of his supporters in Ohio on Wednesday, Obama seized on the McCain campaign’s view that this year’s presidential election is "not about issues."

Obama said the remark showed that the Republicans would rather engage him on personality than policy.

Campaign manager Rick Davis aired the Republican view during an interaction with editors of the Washington Post.

Washington - Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee for president, Wednesday lashed out at Republicans for ignoring the dragging economy and its impact on ordinary people's lives in the opening session of their presidential nominating session.

Obama, referring to speeches delivered Tuesday evening in St Paul, Minnesota, charged that none of the speakers mentioned the economic hardships and the struggles people are having in sending their children to college or hanging on to pensions.

St. Paul (Minnesota), Sept. 3 : The Barack Obama campaign has released a new TV ad that mocks John McCain’s ties to President George W. Bush.

The 30-second ad, entitled “Same,” shows a montage of McCain and Bush in a tight embrace, shaking hands and sharing laughs.

“They share the same out-of-touch attitude. The same failure to understand the economy,” a narrator declares.

“The same tax cuts for huge corporations and the wealthiest 1 percent. The same questionable ties to lobbyists. The same plan to spend 10 billion dollars a month in Iraq when we should be rebuilding America,” it adds.

New York, Sept. 3: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has acquired an eight point lead over Republican rival John McCain, and for the first time cracked the 50 percent milestone in the latest Gallup Poll.

This threshold is considered to be a safe number for victory.

According to Gallup’s Daily Tracking Poll, Obama leads McCain, 50 percent to 42 percent.

McCain is “well below” his 48 percent top support level, recorded in late April/early May, in a hypothetical match-up against Obama, said Gallup pollster Lydia Saad.

London, Sept. 2 : Anti-corruption authorities have seized over 630,000 dollars raised during an "Africans for Obama" gala dinner held in Nigeria''s commercial capital, Lagos.

Hundreds of the city''s high-society elite and business leaders paid up to 11,000 pounds for a table at the glitzy fundraiser, but police intervened when it became clear that US laws prohibit overseas donations.

The Telegraph quoted staff from Barack Obama''s campaign team said the Democratic presidential hopeful was in no way connected with the "Africans for Obama" organisation and added that no money from the group would be accepted.